Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro glaciers disappeared by 2050: it is irreversible



by LORENZO CIOTTI

Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro glaciers disappeared by 2050: it is irreversible
Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro glaciers disappeared by 2050: it is irreversible

By 2050 some of the largest and most famous ice of UNESCO sites will be completely melted due to climate change: we are talking about pieces of natural history, such as the ice of Yellowstone, Kilimanjaro or the Dolomites.

Due to climate change in the last twenty years there has been a dramatic acceleration in the melting processes, which has led these glaciers to lose 58 billion tons of ice per year. Farewell also to Mont Perdu in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain, the Glaciers in the Los Alerces National Park, the glaciers of the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park between Canada and the USA, which have lost over a quarter of their volume two decades, and many more.

With the disappearance of the glaciers downstream, nothing will come, forcing the populations to abandon their land and activities, with all the social and economic consequences that arise.

Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro glaciers disappeared by 2050: it is irreversible

This is a new research from the UN, which explains how the 18,600 glaciers of UNESCO sites represent about 10 percent of the frozen areas on Earth, covering 66 thousand square kilometers.

Their melting is responsible for about 5 percent of sea level rise. The latter factor is one of the most worrying in relation to climate change, given that, by 2100, it is estimated that entire coastal regions, oceanic islands (especially in the Pacific) and large cities facing the sea will go under water.

Their dissolution is now certain and will occur regardless of how much carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are fought. About a third of the 18,600 glaciers hosted in 50 UNESCO sites will disappear from the Earth within just thirty years.

The glaciers were losing 58 billion tons of ice per year, equal to the combined annual water use of France and Spain, and were responsible for nearly five percent of the observed sea level rise globally, explained the agency.

Countries have pledged to contain global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels, a target the world is doomed to miss with current emissions trends.